


Popcorn and M&Ms

by summerdayghost



Category: One of Us Is Lying - Karen M. McManus
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Watches Snuff Films, Complicated Relationships, Implied/Referenced Suicide attempt, M/M, Masturbation, Panic Attacks, Pre-Canon, Prom, Psychopathology & Sociopathy, Revenge, Unhealthy Relationships, dark fantasies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-23 18:56:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16164875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerdayghost/pseuds/summerdayghost
Summary: He didn’t know how Jake would react exactly. He just knew that it would hurt him.Or the revenge scheme that completely blew up in Simon’s face and left him needing a revenge scheme for the aftermath of said revenge scheme.





	Popcorn and M&Ms

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for day one of the October writing challenge. The prompt was revenge. This is a little late because this took me forever to finish.

Simon sat on the edge of his bed with his computer on his lap. The news had just released the footage of the fires. He’d already seen it a few times but he wanted to soak in every detail.

Janae was laying on the carpet at his feet. She wasn’t watching the video. She wasn’t really into that sort of thing. A bowl of popcorn mixed in with M&Ms rested on her stomach. That stuff had always been Simon’s favorite, especially when the M&Ms were put in while the popcorn was still hot and melted a little. She hated it the first time but had long since acquired the taste. It had been that way with a lot of things between them.

He would never say it, but there were a lot of things he would much rather do with a Saturday night than this. Jake Riordan was throwing a party that he wasn’t invited to. He should have been invited, but he wasn’t. This felt pathetic in comparison to how great he imagined that to be.

Simon did his best not to let that sort of thing eat away at him. He was going to get everything he wanted eventually anyway. It was all a part of the plan. He would rise up.

He looked over his laptop screen and down at Janae. When he made it to the top he planned to take her with him. While she was by no means the sort of girl that would usually be in that crowd, but she wasn’t not pretty. Molding her into what he needed her to be shouldn’t be too hard. In half of all of perfect universes there was no way he would have paid her any mind (the other half he had no idea), but in this universe she had been loyal. She deserved to be rewarded for that.

“Y’know who I think you should look into next?” she sounded bored. Too bored. He knew her well enough to know it had to be manufactured.

Simon did his best not to lean towards her like some weirdo, “Hm?”

To be honest Janae’s suggestions were pretty hit or miss. Mostly miss. It wasn’t her fault she just wasn’t at his level. Her sparks of genius were rare enough that Simon knew not to get excited anymore.

It was still nice to see her take such an active interest though. While she had always been someone he could bitch with she used to be quite unsure about the app when he was first starting out. Janae must have asked him if he was really sure about this a million times and if it would really be worth it a billion times the night he posted for the first time. There was a third question that probably had Jake’s name in it that she was smart enough not to ask.

She’d changed her tune a while ago, but she could still be quite timid about it. Those times were annoying, but she was being the opposite of annoying right now. Right now she was reminding him why he kept her around.

This made him smile despite himself. It wasn’t a big smile, more like the hint or the ghost of one. It was more than he’d given her in the past few days.

Janae had obviously noticed and her attempt to cover up the way that brightened her heart was unsuccessful, “Cooper.”

A few days ago she had come close to fucking up a lead. Their credibility ultimately remained intact so it wasn’t that bad. If it had been that might Simon honestly thought he might have killed her. Okay maybe not killed her, but he definitely would have done something bad. Something that would have scared and scarred her.

While it wasn’t bad enough to earn physical suffering as far as he was concerned Janae had earned the cold shoulder. He wasn’t even properly giving her the cold shoulder. Considering that he was still paying just as much attention to her as usual it could really only be called the less warm shoulder.

It was Simon’s own damn fault he couldn’t even punish her properly and he knew it. When it came down to it he was an intensely social creature at his core. His problem was that he hated almost everyone. The few people he didn’t hate wanted nothing to do with him. Janae was the only exception. She was all he had much to his displeasure.

Simon couldn’t help but wonder if her taking such an active role in the ideas process of About That was about winning back his favor. Yeah, that had to be it. It was about getting back on his good side. Well, it worked at least. She was mostly forgiven. Mostly.

He returned his eyes to the beautiful, beautiful fire that consumed that apartment building with all the people inside, “More than one Cooper goes to our school. You’re going to have to be more specific.”

Simon already had a pretty good idea who she was talking about, but he needed to hear her say it. He didn’t like what it would imply about him otherwise. It didn’t matter that she already knew him well enough to understand parts of the origin of his goals. Appearances mattered.

She rolled her eyes grabbing a large fistful of popcorn and M&Ms, “Cooper Clay, baseball pitcher, Southern. Who else would I be talking about?”

“Cooper Dawson, Cooper Wagner, Jeremiah Cooper, the list goes on.”

Okay, no it didn’t but she didn’t need to know that. She probably already knew that anyway, but he didn’t need to admit it.

She swallowed her food which thank god because Simon hated the sound of people talking while eating, “We’ve already gotten those guys.”

“There could always be more to the story. Repeat offenses happen,” he finally paused his video. He couldn’t really focus on it anymore like it demanded.

Janae sat up carefully making sure she didn’t spill the contents of the bowl, “How likely is someone to try again after failing to spike the punch with LSD at winter formal?”

“Eh,” he waved his hand in a noncommittal gesture, “you’d be surprised. Besides Cooper Wagner has definitely traded nudes for Pokémon cards since.”

If they we were to be entirely honest with themselves exposing Cooper Wagner’s little operation did way more to advertise his services than shame him. Sure he was technically a registered sex offender now because he was seventeen making his nudes legally child pornography, but that didn’t seem to bother him much.

Cooper Wagner was a weird person. If anyone deserved to be on the fringes of society it was Cooper Wagner and not Simon Kelleher. Cooper Wagner was happy enough there anyway.

“Do you think Cooper Dawson really going to flirt with Mrs. Woodbury to try to raise his grade again? After how she reacted?” Janae nudged Simon’s leg and gestured to the popcorn and M&Ms bowl in a silent offering.

He nodded accepting her offering, “We have more than one teacher in the school. Besides it wasn’t that bad.”

Oh it was bad alright. It was just easier to say that then admit Janae had a point.

She gently passed him the bowl, “I doubt it.”

“They could have always done something new that’s scandalous,” he grabbed a small handful of popcorn and M&Ms.

Simon preferred to savor his treats while Janae either devoured or didn’t take them at all. While Simon had devoured quite a few things in his day he never really understood the second aspect of her way. Maybe he would someday but right now he didn’t really care to.

“Yeah, but we’ve covered all of them before and we have never ever covered Cooper Clay,” she stretched her back until Simon heard a crack, “He’s so squeaky clean yet noticeably afraid of About That. There has to be something he doesn’t want getting out.”

The part about Cooper being Jake’s best friend went unsaid. Simon was already painfully aware of the fact. Janae could read him well enough to know he didn’t need to be reminded of that right now.

He let out a short and hearty laugh, “Oh, I know exactly what skeleton he has hanging in his closet. Emphasis on the word closet.”

Her eyes widened as comprehension dawned on her. Simon had always liked the little face she made when she finally understood things. He wished she could make it more.

Janae scooted closer to him, “How do you know?”

It had been started by something small. Simon didn’t quite remember what it was. Maybe Cooper had looked at someone oddly or made some hasty excuse. But as soon as Simon noticed that tiny detail he noticed all the others. None of it amounted to concrete evidence, but Simon’s instincts had taken him far.

Simon shrugged, “I just do.”

“Does he have a boyfriend?” she climbed up onto the bed next to him careful not to disturb the bowl of popcorn and M&Ms.

He shook his head, “If he did we’d both know about it already.”

Their informants certainly wouldn’t have missed something like that. Not even if someone had paid them not to notice. That would never happen because no one knew exactly who the informants were. It was secret enough that not even the informants knew who the other ones were.

Although someone had tried to bribe Simon before, some poor sap that didn’t want anyone to know he’d made a pass at his sister (and his brother). Simon took the insultingly low forty bucks and published the piece anyway. It made it much juicier by far.

Simon had more than once entertained the notion that Jake used Cooper to satisfy his sexual desires. Jake had ditched Simon before his sexuality had finished developing but he would be shocked if there weren’t some thing a part of it that was truly dark.

That Addy girl was cute and all, but there was no way he was fucking her the way he really wanted to. He could build up to it slowly. A frog won’t realize it’s dying if you turn up the temperature slowly rather than immediately putting it to boil. Jake could do the same. He was smart enough. But if he were to even start the process of that he would shatter all sorts of illusions he had built up. He couldn’t afford to do that if he wanted to keep her. Not they were already married at least.

Addy Prentiss was a sweet princess who Simon felt was entirely wrong for Jake (precisely because she was a sweet princess). Sure she was perfect for the person Jake presented to world in the same way Cooper was a perfect best friend. Nothing was ever said, Jake hardly acknowledged Simon anymore, but the both of them knew the person Jake wanted people to think he was and the person he actually was were entirely different. Simon and Jake were alike in that way (and many other ways that Jake had probably forgotten about too).

Cooper Clay however would be perfect. As far as Simon had seen he was generally well meaning and easy going. He had a lot of affection for Jake and the other boys on his team. To someone who didn’t know any better it made Cooper just look like a giant teddy bear. He was a giant teddy bear, but his true motivations were likely more subconscious. It was expression of feelings and urges that had nowhere else to go.

That sort of thing would have been so easy to twist in a direction that benefitted Jake. He could have gotten Cooper underneath him before Cooper knew what was happening. Cooper was so trusting, particularly of Jake, that he could practically do whatever he wanted no matter how violent and he’d be understanding. He’d still be Jake’s perfect little best friend in public the next day. Hell, he’d probably enjoy the hell out of it considering how pent up the poor thing probably was.

If Jake and Simon were still best friends he would have submitted to any weird and violent fantasy Jake had (and he’d make sure that Jake would do the same even if he hated it because control issues). It was essentially what best friends were for. Especially when said best friends were actually gay and had rocking bodies.

Simon was secure enough in his own sexuality to admit he understood the physical appeal of someone like Cooper. It wasn’t hard really. He was a nicely put together star athlete after all.

He’d dismissed the idea as ridiculous long ago though. There was no way that had happened. Jake would get a lot out of it, sure, but the thought probably hadn’t crossed his mind. He was so preoccupied with keeping up he’s perfect little masquerade Simon wondered if Jake had even realized Cooper was gay. Probably not, but if he ever did he would have a million thoughts about what other people might think and how to influence it before how he could use it for himself would come up.

At least that’s how it would be with the Jake that Simon knew. He was pretty sure he still understood Jake’s fundamental nature but a lot of things could have changed while Simon wasn’t there to observe them. A lot of things probably had and maybe how Jake treats opportunity was one of them. That wasn’t pleasant to think about.

Beyond what Jake might have done there was something about the way Cooper carried himself that told Simon that he was about as green as they came. No, he’d never so much as kissed another boy before let alone had crazy, secret, rough sex with one.

Janae’s voice brought Simon back to reality, “I suppose so. We should run it. It would cause a big splash.”

And Jake would hate it. She didn’t say it, but that was the important part. Simon didn’t care what the school would think if this were to get out but Jake would care a lot. Cooper was just an extension of Jake and nothing more when it came down to it. Oh it would be torment for Jake and that would bring Simon true joy.

The potential drawbacks were too large for Simon to be fully comfortable with. Claiming that Cooper was gay with no damning cherry on top of a whipped cream of evidence would be different than just claiming that Cooper had done something gay (which as far as Simon knew he hadn’t). People would believe the second one with no problem but the reception of the first one would be entirely dependent on Cooper’s reaction. He would most likely be very upset and inadvertently confirm it, but if he kept his cool and maintained the lie that he was a heterosexual all bets were off. About That might take a hit to the credibility that it couldn’t afford and Simon might alienate those he aspired to.

He grabbed another handful of popcorn and M&Ms, the bowl was more than half empty, “I wanna keep this one close to the chest.”

While he hadn’t figured it out quite yet Simon just knew there had to be a way that he could use this information to menace Jake far beyond what just telling everybody would.

*

That night Janae and Simon had settled on reinvestigating Jeremiah Cooper shortly after the popcorn had gone. She finally went home about an hour later without looking at Simon’s computer screen once.

Jeremiah Cooper had been the right idea. The timing was truly impeccable. Grand theft auto was no petty crime, but Simon thought that bragging to freshmen about the sweet ride you hotwired and you general invulnerability was worse. The freshmen were so impressionable, but that wasn’t what made it so heinous to Simon. It was bad because it was annoying. Not telling everyone about it was the first rule of any crime from jaywalking to murder.

It was irrational for Jeremiah Cooper to cry the way he did when that week’s edition of About That was set free upon the world. If he didn’t want people to know he shouldn’t have told anyone. Sure, they had their ways of finding out anyway but Jeremiah made it too easy.

He was a super senior that in Simon’s opinion should have been expelled in in third grade. Exactly where he’d end up he wasn’t sure, but he knew it wouldn’t be juvie. Jeremiah was too old for juvie.

Ultimately it wasn’t that much of a scoop. No one was surprised. Why would they have been? While no one thought About That was losing its edge if they wanted to keep the power they built up they needed to keep escalating. They needed to get stories more and more shocking with worse consequences.

Sure, Jeremiah Cooper’s life may very well have been ruined but it wasn’t too ruined. Even so it was Jeremiah Cooper’s life. Jeremiah Cooper was not far above nobody. Everybody knew that. Even he knew that.

Perhaps Simon’s perception had been skewed lately. There was a time when he would have been more than satisfied with this outcome. Now it didn’t feel like very much at all. Not in comparison to what had happened little over a month ago.

Little over a month ago Leah Jackson tried to take her own life. Simon’s phone practically blew up that night. The moment anyone found out what had happened their first instinct was to try to get in contact with him. The further the news spread the more texts, voicemails, and emails he got. He had no idea so many people had his number.

Most of these messages were quite cruel and nasty in nature. They held him accountable for what had happened. It was preposterous really. The mourning always looked for someone to pin their blame on no matter how stupid. There was no point in them mourning, she had survived, but that was another topic entirely.

The most aggravating messages came from Leah’s whiny friends wondering what they would ever do without her. It was irrational because he already hated every single one of them, but he had a urge to call them all back telling them that if they needed a friend he could be their friend. He was better than Leah anyway. He didn’t do that because the thought of having to come up with individual plans to twist them into something he wouldn’t despise was exhausting.

His favorite messages were from the freshmen that Leah screwed. Their voices were shaky and their vocabularies subpar. They were all scared, sad, and confused. Not a single one of them fully understand what was happening and they turned to Simon of all people. Most of them mentioned parents who were devastated or who weren’t mad but disappointed or who absolutely were mad and had broken something over it or who were lost on what to feel. It reminded him of how powerful he really was.

Simon was so happy that night he could have kissed Janae. He never felt that way about Janae. As some would put it there was no spark between them. Not one that he ever felt anyway. He cared for Janae, yes, but he cared for her in the way a man may have cared for his wife back in the era when it was considered irresponsible and flat out weird to actually love your spouse.

He still could have kissed her anyway. That’s what people did when overcome with a moment of extreme joy. They kissed someone. The movies had taught him that.

Simon had learned a lot about people and social cues from the movies. He had a hard time cracking the code of human nature when he was younger. Everyone was so far below him, everyone but Jake that is, their simplicity was difficult to understand or connect to. At least he had it mastered now. Okay maybe not the connecting part.

However, he did not kiss Janae even though he could have. She was curled up on his bed crying. If he would have kissed her she probably would have shoved him off and told him it was entirely the wrong time.

Instead of kissing Janae he wrapped his arms around her tightly. She probably assumed this was some sort of gesture of solidarity and shared guilt. Maybe she was just grateful from some form of comfort.

Either way she returned his embrace and sobbed harder into his shoulder, “What have we done?”

“Nothing at all,” Simon almost said but opted for silence instead.

Leah had been the one to fuck all those freshmen, not them. She had been the one that nearly ended her own life. These were her decisions and her actions. Simon and Janae were not responsible.

That was how he saw all of the people they exposed. If those people weren’t willing to face the consequences of their actions they should have covered it up better or never have done it at all. Those people deserved what they got. Those people practically did it to themselves.

Of course the way most people saw it Simon might as well have handed Leah the pill bottle. He wouldn’t deny that. There would be no point. It was true. But he sure as hell didn’t make her open it and swallow every pill. She did that all by herself.

One thing the hug that lasted long enough that it was probably better categorized as a cuddle was good for was that hid Simon’s grin. If Janae had seen his face she might have thought less of him. That would be the last thing he would want.

Needless to say Leah Jackson’s suicide attempt had been very exciting. It was technically still exciting, she had to be pulled out of school and probably wouldn’t be coming back for the rest of the year, but it was fading. Simon wanted to top it. No, he needed to top it.

He didn’t know how he would pull it off. The most obvious things he envisioned included a body. Maybe someone would succeed where Leah had failed. Plenty of fights had broken out over About That but never an actual murder. Wouldn’t that be cool? A murder!

There were a million possibilities. Each and every single one made him shiver with anticipation. It was going to be beautiful.

So Simon wasn’t watching his favorite video in celebration of Jeremiah Cooper. Fuck Jeremiah Cooper. He meant nothing. Nothing at all. This was a celebration of things to come. Stuff from Jake’s party had begun to trickle in. Promising stuff like Barry getting blown by his girlfriend’s twin sister or honor student Scottie doing cocaine off of his math textbook and more.

The next edition of would be good. There was no way of knowing if it would be Leah Jackson good (just like he had no way of knowing Leah Jackson would react the way she did), but Simon thought it had potential. Either way it would be filled with the sort of scandal people read About That for.

This was a video Simon tried to save for special occasions. It wasn’t because he thought seeing it too many times would lessen the effect. He had already seen it enough times he was sure he accounted for more than half of the views. If anything time had just made him appreciate it more. It was so he could have something to look forward to.

He had first watched it back in eighth grade in Jake’s room. They had heard this video referred to as the Citizen Kane of watching people die and they just had to investigate for themselves. The last video someone had said that about had been largely disappointing to Simon. The background music was cool and just about nothing else was. He still saw it a few times though because Jake had liked it.

He remembered laying back in the middle of what must have been their third viewing at least, “This is such a drag.”

Jake paused the video with a little krinkle between his eyebrows, “I don’t understand. You usually like everything I like.”

This was back in the era when that was still true. It may have still been true but Simon wasn’t able to be there enough anymore to actually observe it.

“We don’t even get to see the good part,” Simon shifted to his side.

Simon had be careful not to disturb the bowl of popcorn and M&Ms. It was overfilled because neither of them had touched it yet and therefore easier to spill.

Jake had been the first one to make him try it. The two of them were still in grade school then. They were at the store with Jake’s parents buying junk food and candy. Jake’s parents always spoiled them it seemed. It was Friday and they were going to have a sleepover and watch a movie. Simon couldn’t remember the movie for the life of him, but he knew there was no way it lived up to the video he would see years later and love. Nothing ever could.

He could still picture Jake in his mind’s all adorable and dumbstruck, “You mean never?”

“I’ve never even heard of such a thing,” Simon said.

“It’s so good though,” Jake whined, “Especially when you pour the M&Ms in while the popcorn is still hot so they melt a little bit.”

Simon scrunched his nose, “That sounds messy.”

His face became gravely serious, “That’s it. You’re trying it, and you’re going to love it.”

Simon didn’t believe at the time that he would love it but he absolutely did. Jake had this way of being right about people. Maybe not their inner lives, that was more Simon’s thing later on, but definitely their outer lives. If Jake thought someone would be good at sports they usually were and if he thought someone would like something they usually did. He was great at buying presents.

Jake began pouring M&Ms into the shopping cart. He used his arm to push them off the shelves and into the basket. Far more ended up in the cart than Simon could imagine them actually needing, but he didn’t say anything. Jake’s parents didn’t seem to mind and they were the ones paying for it.

They didn’t mind, at least, until they were almost at the checkout line and they noticed what was horribly wrong. Every single package of M&Ms were peanut M&Ms. They freaked out and rushed back to the candy aisle to put them back in favor of the chocolate ones.

Honestly, Simon had noticed that himself immediately, but he wanted to see what Jake’s game was. Jake told his parents that it was an earnest mistake. That he had forgotten about Simon’s allergy. Simon wasn’t sure about that but he never asked. Asking would have taken the fun away.

Even now he looked back on that and felt fluffy inside. The sort of fluffy that only Janae knew could exist within him. It was a part of him that should never see the light of day should he die of embarrassment.

Being on his side he could better see the moment Jake had paused the video at. The look on the man’s face on screen was so stupid it made Simon chuckle lightly.

Jake must not have noticed or found it relevant, “There’s more than one good part in this sort of thing.”

He said that as if he knew. This was the only thing of that sort either of them had ever seen. They’d imagined plenty, but imagination could never truly fill in the blanks of knowledge.

“The good part is the killing part,” Simon mumbled.

“I’ve have you know that this sort of thing is extremely humiliating,” Jake sounded so condescending Simon felt the urge to beat it out of him.

“For who? The murderer? The viewer?” Simon deadpanned, “Dead people don’t feel pain.”

Simon imagined that would be one of the perks of being six feet under. It was probably the real reason why no one ever came to life. Who would ever want to return to all of the pain that came with living?

Jake took a few moments to respond, “It really breaks the family’s hearts.”

“Did they film the family’s reaction to it?” Simon looked Jake dead on in the eye, “Because I think I could get into that.”

He immediately looked away, “I don’t think they did.”

“Then it’s a drag,” Simon rolled back onto his back from his side.

“Whatever,” Jake pressed play, “You might acquire a taste for it in time.”

He reached for the bowl of popcorn and M&Ms, “I think you just like gay porn.”

Jake was mostly silent save for chewing (he cleared over half of the bowl) after that until Simon went home for the night. They never watched that video together again. Simon was pretty sure Jake had watched the video again after that point. He liked it too much just to quit it over something that small.

The only uncertain element was how aggressively Jake masturbated to the video now that Simon wasn’t there to watch him. Did he take it slow or was he jacking himself off hard and fast? Did he take the time to get naked or was it a quick fully dressed affair? Was he doing it because he enjoyed it or was it a mechanical fulfillment of a biological need?

No matter what Simon hoped for two things. The first being that Jake still did this, still watched that video, and the second being that he called his name when he came everytime. Considering the content of the video if the second one was true that would mean that Jake was most likely imagining Simon as the corpse. That didn’t bother him much.

But that video was trash compared to this video. Neither of them said a word the whole time it played for the first time which was highly unusual for them. They just kept their eyes glued to the screen. Back then Simon had a habit of heckling everything (Janae would say that he still did) and Jake would say anything that crossed his mind at any point. They were a terror at the movie theater.

After the video finished the silence continued. Butterflies flew in Simon’s stomach. Jake’s face was unreadable. Oh god. What if he hated it?

A huge grin spread across Jake’s face, “That. Was. Awesome.”

Simon had never felt such relief and nodded quickly, “Lets watch it again.”

“Hell yeah.”

Looking back Simon wished he had sucked Jake off right then and there. His head was already in Jake’s lap from the position they watched it in. The computer had been on the desk. Jake had been sitting on the edge of the bed facing it as Simon lounged sideways. It would have been easy.

Jake would have really appreciated someone trying their best to choke on his cock no matter how mediocre at that point. Simon could have been that someone. He imagined Jake would be rough with his thrusts and sweet with his hand in Simon’s hair. He would have looked Jake in the eye as he swallowed every last drop of his come silently asking who was really in control here.

Maybe they’d still be friends today if that had happened. The chance wasn’t high, but it was a possibility that couldn’t be denied. Jake may have considered taking Simon with him to the top if another blowjob was on the line.

Of course that was all just Simon’s current growing erection thinking. Even clicking the link to his favorite video alone was enough to get him hot these days. His sex life was that boring (read as: nonexistent). In reality he would have never wanted to blow Jake in that moment. In that moment he just wanted to rewatch the video. Doing that while sucking cock would have been tricky.

The content of the video was simple but it was also everything, everything. It involved a woman with overdone makeup and a short skirt. Her profession wasn’t hard to guess. She was in an alleyway with two young men.

He wasn’t entirely sure where they were exactly. The accents while American did not read as strongly regional to Simon. It was broad daylight so the only thing he could be sure if was that it was the sort of place that allowed this sort of thing to happen while the sun shone.

When Simon had originally watched it the young men seemed ancient. He thought they were adults with established lives and jobs. They could not have been much older than he was now. One of them had braces and the other a censored varsity jacket (of all the things they could have censored…). In all likeliness he was probably the age they were when this was recorded. It was a weird thought, but the signs were too obvious to ignore.

The cameraman’s face was never shown but his voice could be heard. Simon had to wonder if he was older than the other two. Was he an older brother or cousin or family friend beaming with paternal pride? Was he the stranger every warned against who happily paid for all of this?

Maybe he was the same age as them, a third friend from school or a twin. If he’d drawn the short straw that day it didn’t show in his voice. He was very enthusiastic.

There was even the possibility that the cameraman was younger than them. He could have been a baby brother or a freshman they took under their wing. This could have been them showing him how it was done and what was fun.

To be entirely honest Simon never decided what the cameraman was like behind the lense based on probability or empirical evidence. No, it was always what he found personally hottest at the moment.

Varsity Jacket had knocked the woman to the ground and Braceface stood with a foot on her chest to keep her from moving. Braceface was clearly not the strong one of the pair but she was too stunned to fight back all that well. She hadn’t been expecting this. The camera and the underaged boys had suggested something else entirely to her.

She cried out as Varsity Jacket kicked her sharply in the ribs. Braceface’s snickering was in sharp contrast to the mean sneer on Varsity Jacket’s face.

“Looks like we got a screamer!” the cameraman joked.

Varsity Jacket smiled right at the camera, “Oh wait ‘till we really make her scream.”

He pulled a knife out of his jacket and with a mischievous glint in his eye passed it to a still giggling Braceface. Braceface immediately jammed it into her shoulder. She writhed in agony.

“Make it really hurt,” the cameraman said with a gleeful tint.

The woman moaned, “No, no, please no.”

“Shhhhh. Your wish is my command,” Braceface said as he twisted the knife, “As if I wasn’t already gonna.”

This got a good chuckle and pat on the back from Varsity Jacket. Braceface looked quite pleased with himself.

It was at that point it became all too much and Simon finally shoved his hand down his pants. He’d made it farther than this in the past. Heck the first twenty times or so he’d watched this he didn’t touch himself at all. But in this instance he couldn’t help himself anymore.

The video wasn’t sexy because they raped her or anything. They didn’t even cut her clothes off. Varsity Jacket and Braceface making kissy noises at her as she pleaded for her life saying she had a husband and kids was the closest to sexual assault they came.

No, the whole video was just Braceface and Varsity Jacket taking turns cutting, stabbing, and punching the woman until she died. They might have continued a little bit after she died. She became unresponsive a while before they stopped. The exact moment she went was not obvious to Simon and it probably wasn’t obvious to the young men either.

What made the video so hot to Simon was the comradery the young men displayed. They seemed so close, spending the whole time trying to make each other laugh and giving each other fond looks. Well that combined with the ultraviolence but Simon would have sworn the friendship part was more important.

This was what Jake and Simon could have been if Jake didn’t leave him when they got to high school. Okay, maybe they wouldn’t have killed anyone, but Simon could see it so clearly.

He didn’t wear braces but obviously he’d be Braceface. Jake would be Varsity Jacket. He had always been the sportier one out of the two of them. They would be unstoppable.

The way he started to imagine it Cooper was the cameraman and Janae was the victim, but that quickly fell apart. It worked quite nicely with the things he wanted, the crowd he wanted to be a part of, but it was also totally implausible.

While Simon could totally lead Janae to her death with the way things were that was only because he was her best friend. She wasn’t particularly naïve. There was no shot in hell she would ever let herself be in a situation where she was alone with three popular boys she didn’t know.

Cooper was generally easygoing and kind hearted. He would never agree to take part in something like this. Simon didn’t know him well enough to be sure but he had a feeling that if they asked Cooper to do something like this he might have cried. He certainly would have called the police.

Jake was not best friends with Cooper for the same reasons he had once been best friends with Simon. Cooper, just like Addy, was a part of something Jake wanted. Simon, on the other hand, was a part of something Jake was. Jake was a part of something Simon was.

The only way it would actually work would be if Cooper was the victim and Janae ran the camera. Janae probably wouldn’t be perfect with the camera. She might freeze up or have shaky hands, but she would record it. No question about it. She would even be willing to do it again if her shaking had ruined the footage and maybe she would even enjoy herself that time.

Cooper’s strength might have caused problems. No one could pitch that well without having quite the arm on them. But if they found a way to lure him into a trap then presumably the trap would have a way to deal with that.

Braceface ran the knife across the woman’s cheek, and Simon imagined doing that to Cooper. It brought him shamefully close. What finally pushed him over the edge was when Varsity Jacket gently ran his hand through Braceface’s hair.

*

He was in the cafeteria when he got the idea.

Jake was all the way across the room where he usually sat. Cooper was at his side. Jake was laughing at something someone, probably his girlfriend said. Simon could tell because his movements were so large. He was over acting but no one else ever noticed that Jake was acting at all.

He ruffled Cooper’s hair. It was a brief gesture that lasted a second at most but Simon felt as if hair was on fire. He knew what he had to do.

Simon was going to have sex with Cooper. Then he was going look Jake in the eye and tell him that he fucked his best friend. Correction: that he fucked his best friend absolutely silly.

It wouldn’t be difficult to get Cooper the way Simon saw it. The poor thing was probably aching for cock. Giving it to him would be the nicest thing he’d done all year.

He didn’t know how Jake would react. Maybe Jake would yell or hit him or be silent or something else. He just knew that Jake would be hurt by this. If it didn’t actually hurt Jake it would be a blow to his vision for a perfect life. Even if Jake was able to bounce back and adjust he’d always know that Simon was the one to shift the details. He’d always know that this wasn’t something he had controlled, and that was just as good as hurting him these days.

“Are you okay?”

Simon blinked a few times, “What?”

Janae didn’t sigh but she had the facial expression that usually accompanied that, “I asked if you if you were okay.”

He nodded, “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

She quickly looked over shoulder, “I don’t know. You were just staring quite intensely towards…”

Janae didn’t say Jake’s name and Simon appreciated that.

She changed the subject rather than insisting that Simon actually respond to that, “Wanna come over to my house after school and watch a movie?”

“I don’t know,” he wanted to start figuring out how to implement his plan as soon as possible, “Which movie?”

“I thought I saw Scream on Netflix,” after a pause she added, “I have M&Ms for the popcorn. It’s all I really buy M&Ms for now.”

He smiled, “Scream is a classic.”

It had been a good day. He deserved to relax.

*

Scream, as it turned out, was not on Netflix, but it’s sequels were so they watched Scream 2. Simon thought it was a fun movie, but he’d always preferred the original. He didn’t let his disappointment ruin his good time. After all he had popcorn with M&Ms, Janae’s company, and a beautiful revenge scheme.

*

Simon started watching Cooper closer in the one classes shared with him. He was surprised to find that Cooper wasn’t pure jock. Cooper was actually pretty smart even if he rarely raised his hand. Sure he wasn’t as smart as Simon or Bronwyn, but Bronwyn was a cheat anyway. He definitely had an actual brain.

Although he wasn’t so smart that he could ask Cooper to tutor him without it looking weird. If he offered to tutor Cooper unprompted he would come off as a jerk. It was a shame that avenue was unavailable. Turning a study date into something else would have been awfully easy.

He honestly paid more attention to Cooper than he did the teacher. It was an easy class anyways and it had not reflected on his grade in the slightest. If he ever genuinely missed anything Janae also had that class so she could fill in the gaps.

In the middle of taking notes Cooper’s only pen ran out of ink. Simon had been anticipating this for about a week. The inkwell looked low. He was a lucky bastard for it to have run out in this class.

Before Cooper could frown too long Simon tapped him on the shoulder with a brand new pen, “Here.”

“Thank you,” he whispered.

Sure, he looked at Simon with a lot of suspicion, but ultimately he accepted the pen. Simon therefore considered this a victory.

*

On prom night it felt like Cooper was never going to be alone. He was perpetually surrounded by friends. Simon had been starting to wonder if he was going to have to drag Cooper to solitude when he finally wandered off into the bathroom. This was Simon’s chance.

He was going to have Cooper tonight. Simon decided on prom night because Jake was at prom too. When he would tell Jake what happened he wouldn’t be able to not think about how he slow danced with Addy and all the pictures he took. It involved him in the story.

Plus saying, “I popped your best friend’s cherry on prom night,” just sounded better.

Simon downed a shot, “Wish me luck, dear.”

Janae looked away from whatever had her attention, he didn’t really care what it was, “With what?”

Rather than answer her he staggered to the bathroom. That shot was the only alcohol he’d had all night. He wasn’t even buzzed. Simon was saving that for the after party, but he knew it would be easier for Cooper if came across as totally smashed. To be honest pretending to be wasted would make it easier for him.

Cooper was drying off his hands when Simon stumbled in. No one else was in the bathroom. This was the moment of truth.

Simon advanced upon him slinging an arm around his shoulders and backing him into the wall. He kept moving getting closer and closer. His chin rested over Cooper’s shoulder and their legs were tangled. The plan was finally starting and Simon couldn’t be happier.

They were so close that Simon could feel Cooper’s heartbeat. It was pleasant until Simon realized that it was way too fast even for someone who was excited. The next thing Simon noticed was that Cooper’s body was entirely stiff (with the exception of the one thing Simon expected to make stiff).

Oh shit.

Simon stepped back and Cooper immediately slid to the ground hyperventilating. He was kicking himself internally because of course this would happen. Cooper was so very closeted and no one had probably ever paid any attention of this sort before in his life. No wonder the poor thing was overwhelmed. God, what had Simon been thinking?

Thank goodness he’d done what he’d done rather than immediately going in for a kiss or a crotch grab. If he’d gone down that route Cooper may have had a heart attack rather than a panic attack.

Simon grabbed a bunch of paper towels and ran the sink over them for a few seconds. He pressed one against Cooper’s neck while whispering reassuringly to him about how he was okay. Hopefully that would help.

While the plan wasn’t officially cancelled it would have to be reworked.

*

Simon angrily chewed on his waffles. He’d always thought the food at Denny’s was fucking atrocious, but he’d ordered something out of a weird sense of pride. He needed to rip something apart if he was going to keep himself from screaming.

Janae sat across from him. He had to admit that she was beautiful tonight. She didn’t dress up the way any other girl at school had. Her hair was up in a way that reminded Simon of those girls in the photos taken right before WWI. All the girls in those old photographs were dead, but even that thought didn’t bring him comfort like it usually would have. Her dress was black and covered everything from wrists to ankles. It worked on her.

Under the lights of the Denny’s after midnight she appeared to be some sort of bizarre angel. He could even see her halo even if that was just his eyes growing tried. She was the sort of angel that would take an interest in someone like him.

When the waitress left Simon asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to order anything more? I’m taking care of the bill.”

He was paying for his sake rather than her’s.

She shook her head, “The food here sucks.”

They really should have gone somewhere else, but nowhere else was open so late. Well nowhere else that Janae’s parents would be okay with her date (well only technically speaking was he her date but still) taking her. Also all of those places would card them and Simon didn’t have fake IDs ready. This wasn’t what he’d envisioned for this night at all.

“I just know that you get hungry,” he looked at the dumb picture on the wall and tried to decide if it was a donation or if someone abandoned it at the nearby crosswalk.

If Janae was awake at a time that she would usually be sleeping her stomach gnawed at her like some sort of monster. He had learned this through many late nights spent with her working on the ap.

He hated the feeling of worrying about her. That’s why he usually never did it, but it gave him something else to think about.

“I’ll be fine,” she patted her purse, “I’ve got a bag of popcorn and M&Ms. Let me know if you want any.”

Only Janae, only Janae. As much as he didn’t want to admit to himself he would probably take her up on that on the way home. The thought of it made him feel sick and he didn’t know why. It was probably just the waffles.

When her milkshake arrived he couldn’t stop staring at it. The milkshake was the exact same pink as Keely’s dress. God he wished he was at Vanessa’s party. He’d been on the prom court and _someone_ had still gotten him uninvited.

“School shooters are fucking lame,” he blurted out.

He got a few odd looks but he didn’t care. What did they disagree or something?

Janae didn’t give him an odd look so much of a look of disbelief, “Then why did you make me act out that play one of them wrote so many-”

“First of all it was a screenplay,” he ran a hand through his hair, “Also that was the in the past. This is now.”

The last time they had done that was two months ago.

Janae didn’t respond prompting to just wait and see what he had to say next instead.

Organizing his thoughts was highly difficult, “I mean, it used to have an impact, but it’s just so unoriginal now. It’s all just a bunch of copycats. I mean the last time it was fresh was before we were born but even then you could make an argument for it being stale even then.”

He would just love, love to call Janae one morning and make sure she skipped class that day before heading down to the school with an assault rifle and seeing how many people he could get. It was the stuff dreams were made of.

But that would be boring. The only people who would remember him would be sad parents and who the fuck cared about them?

Well sad parents and Janae. He cared about Janae, his bizarre angel. Maybe she would get the respect he had always deserved. It would be a respect based in fear, but that was the best kind of respect. One final gift from him to her perhaps.

She sipped on her milkshake, “Are you saying it’s high time someone attacked a school with a flamethrower instead?”

He smiled, “Yes!”

More odd looks were thrown their way but at least it was now their way rather than his way.

While he liked the flamethrower idea a lot didn’t think he would actually use it. It just wasn’t his style. But he would keep thinking. He needed to destroy lives more than ever before.

He would have his revenge.

**Author's Note:**

> I had a bit of a hard time knowing exactly how this should be tagged. If there was anything I didn’t tag that you think I should have please let me know.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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